CAUTION with round bale feeders-Please read

[VtMapleGal]

I have never seen the craddle type around here, ill have to ask around....

 

[Jim62]

That do look like an interesting idea for feeding. But, it would take my cows about 5 minutes to get it turned over.

One guy I know feeds off a trailer type feeder thing. It's similar to a round bale hauler, and holds about 3 round bales. He has 3 or 4 of them, and just loads them at the barn and then pulls them to the pasture, swapping them out as needed. Fairly convenient, but also fairly 'spensive.

 

[SRBeef]

That do look like an interesting idea for feeding. But, it would take my cows about 5 minutes to get it turned over.

It may be hard to tell from the photo but there is NO WAY any cow or bull is going to be able to turn this single bale feeder over, even on any reasonable slope, nor get into it.

It has a very wide base and is very heavy - built very heavy from 2x2 steel tubing, 3/16 wall I think.

Here's an older picture of the other one I have for the cows - a double bale feeder.

 

[MistyMorning]

That do look like an interesting idea for feeding. But, it would take my cows about 5 minutes to get it turned over.

It may be hard to tell from the photo but there is NO WAY any cow or bull is going to be able to turn this single bale feeder over, even on any reasonable slope, nor get into it.

It has a very wide base and is very heavy - built very heavy from 2x2 steel tubing, 3/16 wall I think.

Here's an older picture of the other one I have for the cows - a double bale feeder.

Saw a bunch of ads for these in some North Dakota farm mag. I haven't seen any around here yet, but am seriously considering being the first to get one.

 

[Anonymous]

Have you considered the new square bale feeders? You would have to move with forks, but I would think it wouldn't tip so easy.

And I must agree with other posts about cutting twine off of the bales. Not only do the cattle get into it, but it can play heck on ALL equipment...not to mention it starts to look real junky.

 

[dieselbeef]

i wish i had a pic of my bull walkin around the pasture w/the hay ring around his neck. it was out front of him and he had it lifted up in front of him bout 4 ft off the ground and was walking around like the the naked king,,,,
its a cheap galv feeder from tractor supply. never had any issues..i got 3 of em. cows and calfs in em. course its falt and dont snow here..thank god

 

[hopalong]

My boss went to these types a couple years ago... cows moved them around less and were less likely to bang them up. I haven't seen any cows crawling inside yet so I guess they weren't very anxious to get inside with this design.

His have bars that are slanted, but it's the same concept. No top rail.

That is a horse feeder.

That was stated on page one!
Keep up! :banana: :banana:

 

[backhoeboogie]

Where do you find all those old trampoline frames??
Hardly anyone has trampolines around here anymore..

I had one and built two frames. Then a neighbor saw them and gave me another. A very nice person on this forum found one in another forum close to me and sent the guy my way. Then my boss saw a pic of one and gave me one he was needing to get rid of from his rent house. The same neighbor who gave me the second one saw another one and got it for me. That makes 5 total so far.

I had never heard of them or saw them until Caustic posted the pic a couple of years ago. Then I got to surfing the net and saw some others. (Thank you Caustic)

I am thinking of using the old rings I had to make some more cradles. They would work. Just need to save one ring in case there is some type of crisis. The gussets are what give the cradles the strength to hold up the bales.

When it gets muddy, the rings cause me to waste some hay. There is virtually no loss or waste with the cradles.

 

[Keren]

We take the netting and twine off for the cattle.

With the goats, we leave the bales with the twine on. They have actually done studies to show that goats will eat more and they digest it better if they are having to pull and rip it out of the bale. It mimicks browsing more closely. Just as an aside.

With those round bale feeders with the hoops that they put their neck through, I have lost them before because another cow rams them while they have their head in the hoops, and it breaks their neck. We just roll it out. If we roll it out they eat most of it, leave it in a whole bale they tend to just sleep in it and waste it.

 

[CattleHand]

I think if you just left the bale there with the wrap on you'd still have more waste than if you use a feeder. As to the original poster it happens. A guy down the road had a big calf that was chockin himself as he was trying to get out. Luckily he saw it and cut the feeder so the calf could get out of it would of been a loss. It happens sometimes, just those unfortunant events.

 

[KMacGinley]

I have to go with Grannysoo. We have from time to time fed netwrapped bales on end. Little or no waste, they do not eat the plastic and you can pick it up when they are done. Another good idea would be to keep hay in the feeder, hard to get in or tip it over if there is hay in it.

 

[backhoeboogie]

for calves that looks much better than a conventional feeder.. I was wondering how you'd build it out of trampoline frames since I couldn't visualize it, but I could see it working nicely now


I would remove the netwrap as well

Here is a link to a pic in ranchers.net. Maybe someone will fix it again in here for me. This is one built out of a trampoline frame. There are ten gussets total. Two at each corner and two back to the middle from the center of the legs as advised by Caustic.

The top rails are scrap 3/4 or 1 inch pipe pieces. There are angle iron scraps from old bed frames across the top of the legs supporting the bows. Short iron pieces to support the rails are channel, tube steel, or angle (anything on hand) There are cattle panel pieces stitch welded into the bows to help hold the hay.

Each trampoline frame will yeild two to two and a half cradles depending on how big the old trampoline was. The steel members are galvanized and usually structurally sound.

One person can load these in the back of a pick-up truck yet the gussets give them enough strength to hold a bale and a half.

You can go buy them for $800 or build them for much less than $50 out of scraps. They have significantly cut waste versus the ring feeders. Hay never gets tampled.

I have had no injuries using these.

http://www.ranchers.net/photopost/showp ... puser/2144